Name: Umar Akmal

Birth date: 1990-05-26

Hometown: Lahore

Teams: Pakistan, Lahore Lions, Pakistan Under-19s, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited

Debut: Test: Nov 24-28, 2009 | ODI: Aug 1, 2009 | T20I: Aug 12, 2009

ODI Best: 102*

Test Best: 129

 

Umar Akmal is a right handed, hard hitting middle order batsman and the younger brother of Pakistan’s wicket keeper, Kamran Akmal.

19 year old Umar first came to attention in his debut First Class season (2007/08) where he heavily scored at a brisk pace for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited. In nine matches of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Pakistan's premiere domestic competition), he scored 855 runs, averaging an impressive 77.72 with a healthy strike rate of 90.18. His stand-out knocks being a 248 off 225 balls against Karachi Blues and 186 off 170 balls against Quetta.

In January 2008, he was selected to represent Pakistan in the Under 19 World Cup to be held in Malaysia. In a tri-nation tournament leading up to the World Cup, he was the highest run scorer with 255 runs at a very impressive strike rate of 123.18. However, his performance in the World Cup was poor - being used as an opener, he failed to make any significant scores in 5 matches as Pakistan departed in the semi-finals.

Umar was selected in the Pakistan A team for the tour of Australia in June/July 2009 where he performed superbly. In the two unofficial Test matches, he scored 283 runs at an average of 94.33, including two centuries and a fifty. In the 3 One Day games that followed, he scored 155 runs at an average of 51.66. This excellent form prompted his selection for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in July/August 2009.

Umar was not selected for the first match but he played in the remaining 4 matches. In his 2nd match, he hit an impressive 66 off 65 balls - this was followed by his maiden century in his third match when he smashed an unbeaten 102 off only 72 balls. It was not long before he was fast-tracked into the Test team for the tour of New Zealand where he immediately made an impact, hitting a classy century and becoming the first Pakistani to score a hundred on Test debut outside the sub-continent. With his aggressive strokeplay, he proved to be a big crowd pleaser in New Zealand and then in Australia. He has represented Pakistan in two World Cups thus far - the ICC World T20 2010 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Umar is a powerful hitter who has plenty of shots in his armoury, but he is often criticised for throwing his wicket away at crucial times. His career is only young at the moment but he certainly has the talent to become a top class player for Pakistan. The talent is there, the determination seems to be there and provided it remains, Pakistan have a gem of a player on their hands.